The present invention relates to a latch. More particularly, but not exclusively the present invention relates to a latch for use with a lift gate (e.g. a hatchback or boot/trunk) of a vehicle.
All vehicle closures that allow access to the passenger compartment of a vehicle must, according to current legislation, be provided with a secondary latch position to ensure that the door does not unintentionally open whilst the vehicle is in motion, even if the closure has not been closed to the primary latch position.
As people carriers (minivans), off-road and estate (station wagon) vehicles have become increasingly prevalent on the car market, it has become necessary to fit latches having a secondary latch position to the rear tailgate/liftgate closures since seats are often provided in the rear part of the vehicle normally intended for luggage. In many vehicles, the rear closure is remotely releasable either using a switch located on the dashboard or by using a remote keyless entry (RKE) device.
Prior art latches have required the seal load (ie the force induced by the seals surrounding a closure that tend to urge the closure into an ajar condition) of the closure, and/or gas struts and the like to provide sufficient force to lift the closure past the secondary latch position so that when a user attempts to open the closure, they are not prevented from doing so by the pawl of the latch being engaged in the secondary latch position. However, a number of circumstances exist in which the seal load is insufficient to achieve this. For example, the seals surrounding the closure may have lost some of their resilience due to extended use, the weight of the closure may be too high for the available seal load, or there may be additional weight on the lift gate due to snow or ice that prevents the closure from being lifted beyond the secondary latch position. Problems may also occur when the user releases the latch from inside the vehicle. In this situation the closure initially clears the secondary latch position, but once the user exits the vehicle and slams the door, a build up of air pressure inside the vehicle lifts the closure which subsequently drops under the influence of its self weight and a vacuum induced inside the vehicle by the passenger door closing, thereby causing the latch to engage in the secondary latch position. All of these occurrences are undesirable since they may put vehicle users to significant inconvenience due to a second attempt to release the closure being required.